Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-02-10

armies On the 18th the battle began in
earnest. Col. VIM r. Morrison, of the
Forty-ninth regiment Of Illinois Volunteers,
had charge of a brigade that day in McCler-
nand's division. His brigade had some of the
toughest work Of the whole Donelson fight
Their work was to assault Maney's battery,
on the Confederate left, at once the most con-
spicuous and inaccessible Of the entire line of
works They started to climb up hill over
the tangled and terrible "blaclS jack" abatis
4 double fire Of battery and infantry raled
them fore and aft. Once they fell back, and
were REINFORCED. Four regiments started up
the hill a second time They were met with
hotter fire than before. Shrapnel and rifle
bills few into their teeth thick as hail. They
forced their way farther up the abatis, then
wayered and fell bacl once more.
A curious fact added to the complications
of the fight at Donelson. The Confederate
forces were largely uniformed in brown jeans
The dead leaves of the scrub oak were almost
the exact color of this cloth. The Federal
forces, therefore, in climbing the abatis, could
not tell what was leaves and what was Con-
federate soldiers till line of fire in their faces
told them the difference.
The third time Morrison's brigade stormed
the heights. This time they climbed quite to
the rifle pits. The line in front CT them was
one sheet of fire, awful and deadly just
then q musket ball struck Col Morrison in the
hip The future Illinois political leaderreeled
in his saddle and then fell to the ground. That
ended the desperate assault, and Maney's bat
terry remained untaken.
Another Of the curious incidents of war,
and a sad one, happened here. The flashes
from the guns set fire to the thickly cluster
ing dead leaves. They famed up like dry
straw, consuming the dead, dying and
wounded soldiers who lay about in some spots
as thcly as the leaves themselves. A con-
siderable number of the helpless ones were
burned to death. Col Holman, who had dis
4inguished himself at Fort Henry, was in
command Of the Confederates at Maneys bat
tory His men leaped over in front Of their
works, after the assault, and saved such as
they could.
So tho night Of Thursday, the 18th. came
and were away. Up to the arrival of Lew
Wallace, on Friday, the Federal forces en-
gagged numbered only 5000 men. The enemy
did not know it, but they were without sup
plies. The roads were too heavy to transport
food and munitions, and these had been sent
around by water. The morning Of the 18th
the Union soldiers were absolutely without
food.
During the night n storm Of snow and sleet
came on. 1t was terrible. The men had not
dared to sleep during the night. They could
not build fires, for these would have been
merely so many targets for musketry and ar
tillery from the fort There were no shelter
tents for them Dawn found them numb and
stiff with the cold, their clothing wet through
to the skin and frozen on their backs. Col.
81
upon a log wrapped in his blanket till o'clock
in the morning
So the Federal soldiers stood the night
through st dawn the light began to shine
upon a bitterly cold day. Fires were built
toward the rear then, and companies, in turn
relieving one another, went back and thawed
their frozen garments and made coffee.
But they had no food, not bite. Their
only breakfast was coffee, and thus they made
ready to face the day.
For the Confederates in the fort it was not
a whit moro comfortable They lay upon
their arms ell night in the trenches, And
yet nobody on either side was disheartened
The Confederate soldiers were full Of fight
and enthusiasm. st noon the Federal Gen.
Lew Wallace and his Third division Of min
gled veterans and raw recruits arrived into
camp IN the center with cheers ana songs
and huglcs sounding. Cen Wallace rode
Immediately to Grants headquarters and
dined with him on crackers and coffee. The
general was nearly as badly of as his men.
1t was this day that the interchange of
cuurtesies between the feet and the fort took
place
Meantime there was not much fighting on
land Rc-cnforcements were arriving for
Grant, and were being posted.
Grants troops were distributed over line
nearly four miles long. His own head
quarters were at the log house of Mrs. Crisp,
two miles from Dover, at the head of Hick-
man creek 1t was little to the left Of the
center Of his army, and between the divisions
of Lew Wallace and Gen. G. Z. Smith.
SO having arranged matters to suit him,
Grant sat down in the midst of his blue cres-
cent Of soldiers to starve out Fort Donelson
On their part, the Confederate generals in
side the fort were quite aware of their peril
Tie night Of the 14th Gems Floyd, Pillow
and Buciner held a council and resolved to
cut their way out Of the fort through the
Federal lines next morning. Ten the sand
troops were set apart for this grand sortie
The Confcderates too had been REINFORCED.
Brig Gen Floyd was the last TO arrive, on
the morning Of the 18th, with 1900 men.